Sewing-machine



2 Sheets-Shet ,1.

(No Model.)

. J. AQ-HOUSE.

s swme MACHINE.

Patented June 14, 1887..

-.(No Model.) 2 Sheets -Sheet 2.

J. A. HOUSE.

SEWING MACHINE. No. 364,719. Patented June 14, 1887.

UNIT D STATES, PATENT OFFICE.

ALFORD HOUSE, OF IiiRIDGrEP ORI, CONNECTICUT.

SEWING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 364,719, dated June 14. 1887.

Serial No.207.9$7. (No model.)

To all whom itmay concern:-

Be it known that I, JAMES ALFORD HoUsn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in sewing-machines, and has for its object to furnish a stitch-formingmechanism of extreme simplicity and of positive action; but more especially does my improvement apply to the construction and operation of the looper, which I aim to arrange so that it will readily operate in conjunction either with one or more upper threads to form loopstitches, or inconjunet-ion with one or more upper threads and an under thread to form doubly-concatenated stitches of various kinds: and with these ends in view my invention con sists in the details of construction, hereinafter fully explained, and then recited in the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which my invention 'apper'tains may more fully understand how to make and use myimprovemcnt, I will describe the same in detail, referring by letter to the accompanying drawings,

which form a part of this specification, and in whichx Figure 1' is a side elevation of my machine;

Fig. 2, an end elevation; Fig. 3, a detail of the looper; Fig. 4, a detail showing the needles and the looper after the under thread has been drawn through the upper thread-loops; Fig. 5, a modification of the looper shown at Fig. 3 and designed to reciprocate through an arc; Fig. 6, a detail of the stitch-forming mechanism, showing its operation with an under thread; 7, a similar view, in which the finger is dispensed with and the stitches formed from upper thread only; and Fig. 8, a detail showing a looper with a pivoted instead of a sliding latch.

Similar letters denotelike parts in all the figures of the drawings. 1

A is the bed of the machine, and'B is the overhanging arm mounted thereon.

G is the needle-lever pivoted at its elbow to the arm, and D is the needle-bar supported in guides formed in the forked end of the arm,

' oted to said bracket.

as seen at'Fig. 1. E represents needles se-' cured to the bar. The needle-lever is connected to, and is adapted to reciprocate the needle-bar in its guides.

. F is the main shaft journaled beneath the bed, and G is a cam thereon, which imparts the proper movement to the needle-lever.

H is a bracket depending from the bedplate, and I is a lever whose extremity is piv- A cam, J, on the main shaft imparts motion upon its pivotal point to the lever through the engagement of a shoe or roll upon the latter with the groove in the cam.

Kis ablock adapted to slidelongitudinally in ways on thelower-side of the bed-plate, and L is the looper extending outward from the block and booked at its end, as shown at Fig. 3. A connecting-rod, M, extends between and is pivoted both to the lever I and the block K. The looper and block are both slotted longitudinally for the reception of a sliding latch, N, whose forward extremity at certain times closes over the point of the hook, for the purpose presently to be fully explained.

O is a friction-clamp secured beneath the bed-plate. This clamp comprises two jaws, which/I preferably face with wood or Vulcanized fiber, and the rear end of said latch is held between said jaws sufficiently tightly so that while it may be drawn backward and forward through said jaws without the exercise of great power it will not slide easily. The clamp with the latch held thereby is shown in Fig. 1,the enlarged detail in Fig. 3 and in Fig. 5. l is a finger secured to a short transverse rock-shaft, Q, beneath the bed. A shoe on the rock-shaft engages with the grooved cam R, and thereby an oscillatory movement across the path of the looper L is imparted to the extremity 'of the finger.

O in Fig. 5 is a friction-shoe which engages with the latch, which in this construction is hook, in the same manner as at Fig. 3.

In Fig. 8 I have shown a looper constructed with a swinging instead of a slidinglatch. In its forward movement (when attached after the manner of the looper shown in the preceding formed in an are, but which slides to close the figures, but without the friction device) the latch is swung backward by the backward sliding of the loop. At the commencement of the backward movement the withdrawal of the looper through the loops swings the latch back again, so as to close the hooked end of the looper.

The operation of my improvement is as follows: In stitching with one or more upper or needle threads and an under or inter-looping thread, as shown at Fig. 5, the looper (after the needles commence to recede upward and thereby throw the loops) is projected forward through said loops. As the looper moves forward the latch, which is held between the jaws of the friction-clamp, is not carried by said looper until its backward limit within the latter (which is determined by a stop in the block) is reached. At this time said latch is entirely within the body of the looper. Then for the latter part of the forward movement of said looper the latch is carried along thereby and slips through the jaws of the clamp. At the limit of the loopcrs forward motion the finger, Whose eye carries the lower thread,de seends and lays said thread into the hook. The looper then recedes and the latch slides therein during the first part of its backward movement until its end closes over the heard of the hook. It is in this position while the looper slips backward through the loops of needlethread, carrying the lower thread with it. During the latter part of its backward movement the looper again carries the latch along, and the rear end of said latch slips between the jaws of the clamp. The loops are then drawn tight in the fabric by any suitable take-up. At the commencement of the next forward movement of the looper the hook travels away from the latch, as has been already explained, and the loop of under thread also slips backward out of the hook. XVhen the next loop is grasped by the looper,it is pulled backward, not only through the loops of needle-thread but also through the next preceding loop of under thread. The opening of the hook during the forward movement permits the loop held by the hook to slip onto the body of the looper. The closing of the hook by the latch during the backward movement prevents said hook from engaging either the needle-loops or its preceding under-thread loop.

In sewing without the use of an under thread and with but a single upper thread the looper takes the loop and holds it till the next downward movement of the needle. It then moves forward to take this second loop and the first slips backward out of the hook. Then the second loop is taken and drawn backward through the first which is taken up. In this way the common tambonrstitch is formed.

In using two or more upper threads without the use of any under thread the looper takes the last loop and draws it through those preceding, whereby double or treble loop-stitches are formed. By slight changes in the timing of the action of the latch the looper can be caused in sewing with, say, four loops of upper thread, to grasp the last two and draw them through the first two.

The modified looper (shown at Fig. 5) is reeiprocated about its center instead of longitudinally, as in the preceding figures. Its operation, as will readily be seen, is substair tially the same as that of the straight looper.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. The combination, with the reciprocating needle-bar and the needle carried thereby, of the longitudinally-reciprocating looper, the latch arranged and adapted to slide within the same, the friction-jaws engaging the rear end ofsaid latch, and mechanisms, as described, whereby reciprocatory movements are imparted to both the looper and needle-bar, substantially as set forth.

2. A looping mechanism for sewing-machines, the same consisting in the hook-pointed looper and means for properly reciprocating the latter beneath the bed-plate and relative to the needle, the latch sliding in the looper to open and close the point of the same, and a friction-clamp engaging the latch, substantially as specified.

3. In a sewing-maehine of the character described, the combination, with the needle-bar and means for reciprocating the same, of a stitch-forming mechanism consisting of the hook-pointed and reciprocating looper arranged beneath the bed-plate, the latch arranged within said looper and adapted to slide therein to open and close the hook thereof, the friction-clamp engaging the rear extremity of the latch, and the swinging finger receiving motion from the main shaft and carrying the under thread, all arranged as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination, in a machine of the character described, of the hookpointed and reciprocating looper, the sliding latch within the same, the friction device engaging with the rear extremity of the latch, the swinging eye-pointed finger, mechanism, as described, for imparting to the latch a longitudinal reciprocation, and further mechanism for imparting to the linger a segmental oscillation across the path of the looper, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, in asewing-machine of the character described, of the reciprocating needle-bar and needles, the needle-lcver, and the cam for operating the latter, the hooked and longitudinally-reciprocating looper, the connecting-rod, pivoted lever, and cam for operating the latter, the sliding latch arranged and adapted to slide within the looper aforesaid, the friction-clamp engaging the rear end of the latch, and the swinging camactuated eye-pointed finger arranged to escillate across the path of the looper and to carry thread to the same, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereofI affix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

XVitnesses: JAMES ALFORD HOUSE.

S. H. HUBBARD, S. S. WILLIAMsoN. 

